Swell (Complete)

Chapter Twenty-Six(Part Two)

"If it's dreams we're chasing
You've got the world at your feet."

....

Adora felt as awkward trying on dresses in the store as she had at the Taylor's home, but at least Tom or Debbie weren't likely to suddenly appear at the door.
The thought of Tom and Debbie made her mind wonder to Will again. Was it a bad idea to ask him over text or phone? Would he be home when they got home later?
"Do you need help doing the zip up?" Marti's voice called from the other side of the changing room's curtain.
Adora had tried on three dresses so far, and while they had all been lovely, none had really felt right. The one she had on had a hole in the back, but it was low enough that underwear was hidden, and high enough that she didn't feel exposed. It was quiet nice, but felt complicated to put on and do up.
"I don't think I want to finish putting this one on. Maybe the grey one with the layers and the shoulder straps and the hanging sleeve things."
Moments later the dress she had tried to describe was pushed into the room between the edge of the curtain and the plaster wall.

She took the hanger and put it on the hook on the wall. This was one of the favourites she had seen Lucy pick out for her. The grey was a floaty fabric, Chiffon Lucy had named it. The skirt was long and straight but flowy with several layers, the top was fitted and shaped almost like a corset. The back had a fake lace up, but the real closure was a zipper hidden on the side under the arms.
It was easy enough to slip over and zip up, but felt strange.
"Its better... But, I'm not sure." She stepped out from the change room and looked in the long mirror.
The front dipped a lot lower than she had thought and her hands instantly went to cover the low V.
"Too low." She shook her head frantically and felt utterly helpless and exposed.
"Alright, I have an idea, it's a little bit more than your budget, but I think it's what you're going to be comfortable with. Give me a few moments." Lucy held a slender finger up and smiled before disappearing in the dress racks again.
"It actually looks amazing, Adora." Marti tried to encourage her.
"Maybe, but it feels... naked." She shook her head and hid back in the dressing room.
She looked in the mirror of the dressing room wall and lowered her hands. It did look lovely, but it looked a sexy type of lovely, and Adora wasn't ready to try that out. She wasn't confident in plunging and exposing necklines.
Not to mention she didn't have any bras that would fit with the lines of the dress.
"Try this one, it looks like a two-piece, but it's actually all in one." Lucy's voice said behind the curtain as she held another dress in.
Adora took the hanger and put it on the spare hook. She stepped back and looked at the front of the dress properly.
There was a solid white singlet styled layer underneath a delicate lace tee-shirt shaped layer. She bit the corner of her lip and took a deep breath as she started to swap dresses.
The skirt was longer, and more flared, with more layers of the chiffon fabric and some tulle underneath to help the floaty appearance.
While the lace top was white, the skirt layers were various shades of blue and grey. They blended like the sky on a stormy day and after a few minutes trying to find the straps of the singlet layer, Adora finally slipped the dress over her head.

She tried to do up the back but struggle to reach all the way to the top. The white part stopped at her waist and she stroked the layers of the skirt down over her hips and looked at her reflection before stepping out into the store.
"I think I like it, can you finish the zip?" She pulled her hair over her shoulder and turned her back to Lucy, who was waiting outside the curtain.
"It's a lot more comfortable than most of the others." Adora said as she felt the top tighten up and the zip finished just as her neck started.
"It's so... I think it should be this one." Mrs Taylor smiled graciously as Adora turned to look at the larger mirror and show her and Marti the dress.
"I love it!" Marti jumped up from the couch and clapped her hands together.
"How much is it?" Adora remembered the mention of it being out of her budget and felt her heart sinking at the thought.
It was fifty more dollars than her budget. She swallowed a lump and turned from side to side. She felt secure in this dress, like it wasn't going to slip off, or up and expose anything she wasn't ready to.
Would her mum let her have an extra fifty for it?
"I'll give it to you!" Marti exclaimed. "I mean, its you. Now I've seen you in this, I can't see you in any of the others. Can I, Mum, is that OK?"
Adora felt her stomach churning. Was this OK? Was she comfortable with this idea? "I will pay it back." She piped in.
Mrs Taylor smiled. "Alright, we can organise that."
Adora turned and looked at herself front on in the mirror. The lace was so delicate and webby, and contrasting fabric looked so princess-like.
She felt her head nodding and smiled. "Yea, this is it." She muttered.


Adora couldn't remember what the dress had looked like when she was sitting in the backseat on the way home.
Marti was scrolling through images of shoes and make up and hair ideas beside her, deciding to sit in the backseat and not have to twist in the passenger seat. They had bought their dresses, and they each had a paper bag standing up in the boot.
Adora was trying to remember how she had loved her dress, but it felt like a dream now it was off.
She could barely pay attention to the images of hair and make up that Marti was trying to show her.
Would Will like the dress on her? Was it too much? She could remember feeling beautiful for the first time in a while, she could remember feeling excited and scared.
She wanted to lean over the back of the seat and look at her dress again. It had to be the right one now, she had bought it with the Taylor's help, and now she was stuck with it.
"I think something simple and pretty for you, like a crown type of down-do." Marti held the phone out to Adora and showed her the picture of the hair do. It was a girl with brown eyes and hair, loose strands were free around the edge of her face, but behind each ear a small piece was pulled back. Marti swiped the screen to reveal the next image, the back of the hairstyle.
The two pieces joined in the middle of the girl's head and were plaited down the length of her loosely curled hair. Flowers were laced in the plaits and Adora blinked a few times.
"I think you're right." She nodded as she swiped back to the front image. "Yes, this is easy. I can do this myself."
"Or you can let me do it!" Marti pulled her phone back and looked at her with an insulted expression.
Adora laughed a little. "Alright."
"We can get ready at your house, or mine..." Marti added as she started looking at images again. "Stairs might be fun to go down on, and you have some nice rooms downstairs for pre-dance photos."
"I guess." Adora said with a small shrug.
"I know. Now we just need to find me a date and decide how we'll get from your house to the dance at school." Marti's tone was decided and happy, Adora couldn't help but smile at how pleased her friend was with her decisions.
The biggest decision weighing on Adora's mind was how to ask Will to be her date for the dance.

Will fiddled with a pen on the table. The date the night before had made him realise how much he liked Adora. When he'd dropped her off and gave her the awkward goodbye kiss, he hadn't actually wanted to leave.
He had, but he hadn't wanted to.
There was a conflict churning his stomach inside though.
It had been a little over three weeks since Liss had left them and left the note. He was technically single, technically dumped, but he still felt connected to that relationship somehow.
Part of him didn't want to let it go, the other part wanted to go full steam ahead with Adora.
He didn't know which was right.
Would Liss be OK with him moving on with Adora if they had actually broken up officially?
He scribbled on the page of his psychology book and sighed heavily as he let the pen drop from his fingers.
Exams were coming up before the dance and he felt such a mess in his head he was worried how badly he would do in them.
The mobile phone on the table made him jerk as it rang out its rock tune.
He frowned and picked it up and looked at the caller ID.
Tarnee.
His lips parted and his heart jerked against his ribs and lungs. He felt like it was expanding beyond capacity and he swiped the screen to answer.
"Hello?" He asked in a thick and uncertain voice.
"Will?" Tarnee's voice was quiet.
"Yea."
Had she heard from Elissa?
"Is Marti there with you?"
"No. What's wrong?"
He heard Tarnee take a deep breath and shudder as she let it out. He knew something was wrong. Tarnee had been the one that had pointed out that Liss had left without her violin, that she felt it was wrong that her little sister had run away.
Had she been right somehow?
There was a sniff on the other end of the phone and Will felt his grip tighten.
"Liss has been found." Tarnee mumbled.
"What?" Will felt his body seize up on the kitchen chair.
"Some joggers found her."
"That's great." He finally let go of a breath and a smile released the tightness of his face.
"No, Will, they found her dead."
"Wh..." He couldn't breathe again. He hadn't heard right, surely not. His chest started to ache and he felt his eyes burning.
"They tripped over her." Tarnee was losing her voice.
He couldn't move, or breathe.
Liss was dead? How the hell had she died?
"She was murdered, Will." Tarnee broke into sobs on the other side.
Murdered?
"No. She left..."
"They don't know if she left willingly or not anymore. She was covered in tape and buried, Will."
"Her note..."
"She's dead, she was murdered Will." Tarnee cried.
He felt the phone slipping from his hands as he leaned forward over the table.
She might not have left willingly. She might have been abducted.
He hadn't been the reason she left. Someone had killed her. Someone had murdered his girlfriend.
Ex-girlfriend.
"Will?" Tarnee's voice was broken.
"Yea." He whispered back thickly.
"I tried to call Marti, but she wasn't answering."
"No, she's out today."
Marti's best friend...
"Can you tell her?"
Could he?
He wiped at his face, the hot slithers burning down his cheeks. He didn't even realise he was crying.
He felt sick.
"Yea." Was all he could manage.
"I'll call later and let you know more information when we find out more."
"Tarnee, I'm sorry." He forced out, his voice thick with guilt.
"Me too." She breathed back and hung up.
The phone slipped from his grip onto the table and he felt his shoulders shaking.
Who would murder Liss?
Why?
She hadn't left him after all.
Or maybe she had, but she hadn't known what was going to happen.
Whoever she left with had tricked her.
He shuddered a deep breath and leaned over the table, burying his face in his hands.
How was he going to tell Marti?
How was he going to see Adora after finding out about Liss?
Murdered.
Taped up and buried, left for dead.
Gone.